BMW PGA: Grant Forrest enjoys 'cool' day mixing with rich and famous

Grant Forrest celebrates his victory in the Hero Open at Fairmont St Andrews. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

The Lothians man made his debut in the European Tour’s flagship event last October but didn’t get the proper impact due to it being played with no fans due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He’s back on this occasion as a 2021 winner and that maiden success in the Hero Open at Fairmont St Andrews last month helped earn him a spot in the pro am.

A star-studded event, it involved the likes of Dougray Scott, Niall Horan, Ronan Keating, Dan Walker, Tom Holland and Harry Redknapp on this occasion.

“It’s the flagship event, a big week, big crowds,” said Forrest, who is among nine Scots teeing up in the Rolex Series tournament.

“Last year was my first appearance here and it was a lot different to what it usually is due to there being no crowds.

“Today in the pro-am there were pretty good crowds out and it was great to have that atmosphere and I’m looking forward to getting the full experience this week.

“There are a lot of big partners of the tour, people from the tour, celebrities, all sorts playing, so it was a cool one to get into.”

After taking a couple of weeks off following his victory, Forrest missed the cut in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland before closing with a 66 to tie for 34th in last week’s DS Automobiles Italian Open.

“I am glad that I took two weeks off as you have to re-assess everything,” said the 28-year-old.

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“My game wasn’t quite there last week, but I managed to scrape a decent result out of not playing particularly well.

“My game is progressing, so I am happy with that. Just trying to move forward because, although you need to try and enjoy the wins, you can’t linger on them for too long.”

Bob MacIntyre and Calum Hill, two of Forrest’s Bounce Sport stablemates, are among the players in contention for Ryder Cup spots in the final qualifying event.

For Forrest, the chance of facing the Americans will have to wait until 2023 but his appetite for that event was certainly whetted by last week’s event being staged on the Ryder Cup course in Rome.

“Any Ryder Cup would be special to play,” he admitted. “But that would certainly be a good Ryder Cup course, a good match-play course as they can tweak quite a few of the holes to make some drama.”

Forrest will celebrate five years in the professional ranks when he tees up in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the end of the month.

“I seemed to have progressed every year, even though it’s a been a bit of a roller-coaster over the five years,” he said.

“I’ve progressed every year, so I am happy with that, and hopefully I can keep that going.”

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